TIG Welding Service in Chicago & DuPage County

TIG Welding Materials and Applications

TIG welding is the right call when the bead has to disappear, the metal has to stay food-safe, or the joint has to be polished or anodized. It’s slower than MIG and stick — and that’s the point. The slower, more controlled heat input is what makes the weld clean.

Materials we TIG-weld:

• Stainless steel (304, 316, 430) — restaurant equipment, architectural finishes, food-grade fittings, exhaust systems
• Aluminum (6061, 5052, 5083, 5086, 3003, cast) — trailers, marine, automotive, architectural, motorcycle
• Carbon and low-alloy steel — pipe, tube, finish-grade structural where MIG would leave too much spatter
• Copper, brass, bronze — sculpture, decorative work, antique restoration
• Titanium — specialty work (rare, but available — bike frames, custom fabrication)
• Inconel and exotic alloys — high-temperature applications, specialty fabrication

Common TIG applications we run:

• Restaurant stainless prep tables, sinks, hoods, splashes, food-zone surfaces
• Architectural railings, balcony rails, sculpture, art installations
• Aluminum trailer beds, marine fittings, motorcycle and racing parts
• Custom motorcycle and bicycle frames
• Antique restoration — copper, brass, ornamental cast
• Pressure-rated stainless fittings, sanitary food-grade pipe
• Exhaust systems — automotive, marine, industrial

All TIG welds performed to AWS structural and food-grade welding standards.

TIG Welding Customers We Serve

TIG calls come from customers who’ve already decided that finish quality matters. The job is the same idea every time: weld it so the bead disappears or polishes flat, with no spatter, no porosity, no compromise.

• Restaurants and food service — stainless prep tables, sinks, hoods, splash guards (food-safe surfaces)
• Architects and designers — custom railings, balcony work, sculpture, art installations
• Custom fabricators and builders — when the project requires finish-grade welds throughout
• Motorcycle and racing shops — aluminum frames, exhaust headers, racing components
• Automotive shops and restorers — exhaust fabrication, panel repair, intake manifolds
• Marine and boat shops — aluminum hulls, fittings, fuel tanks
• Industrial and process — sanitary stainless tube, food-grade fittings, pharmaceutical-grade work
• Antique restorers — copper, brass, decorative metal where heat input must stay low

TIG is what we run when the customer asks “can it be polished?” or “does this need to be food-safe?” — and the answer is yes.

TIG Welding Standards, Safety, and Quality Control

TIG is the cleanest welding process and also the most fume-controlled — but the standards still apply, especially on food-grade and architectural work where inspection is part of the job.

• AWS D1.1 / D1.2 / D1.6 — structural welding code for steel, aluminum, and stainless steel respectively
• NSF/ANSI 51 — food-zone surface standards (when applicable to restaurant and food-service work)
• ASME IX — pressure-rated welds (when applicable to sanitary, pressure, or boiler work)
• OSHA welding & cutting standards — ventilation, PPE, fire watch
• ANSI Z49.1 — safety in welding, cutting, and allied processes

What that translates to on every TIG job:

• Clean joint preparation — no contaminants, oil, oxide, or carbon-steel cross-contamination
• Correct shielding gas — 100% argon for stainless and aluminum; argon-helium for thicker aluminum
• Filler rod matched to base metal grade and end-use (304 / 308 / 316 for stainless, 4043 / 5356 for aluminum)
• Tungsten electrode prepped to correct point geometry for the metal and current
• Back-purge with argon on stainless tube and food-grade pipe to prevent sugar / oxide on the inside of the weld
• Post-weld passivation on stainless food-zone surfaces
• Workmanship guarantee in writing on every TIG weld

Why Chicago Architects, Restaurants, and Custom Shops Pick American Welding for TIG

TIG welding is the welding equivalent of cabinet-grade carpentry — precision matters more than speed, and the welder’s hand quality shows in every bead. Here’s what long-time customers and new ones get every time:

• 37 years of TIG experience — Pete has welded TIG since the early days of inverter machines
• Architectural and finish-grade work — railings, sculpture, custom fabrication where the bead has to disappear
• Food-safe stainless welds — passivated, polished, NSF/ANSI 51 compliant
• Aluminum specialty — TIG is the right process for aluminum architectural rails, marine fittings, motorcycle frames
• Mobile or in-shop — TIG truck is fully equipped for on-site work; in-shop for finish-grade cabinet-quality fabrication
• Pressure / sanitary work — back-purged stainless tube, food-grade pipe, pharmaceutical-grade fittings
• Owner-operated — the welder fabricating your work is the same one running the TIG torch
• Workmanship guaranteed in writing

The goal on every TIG job is simple: the weld disappears into the work, and you stop noticing it after install.

Frequently Asked Questions